The gruesome killing of Jun Lin, a 33-year-old Chinese national, has been the top news story every day on China's state-run television service, said Xi Xi Le, executive director at the Chinese Family Service of Greater Montreal.Handout
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An image grab taken on June 6, 2012 from a video uploaded on YouTube shows Luka Rocco Magnotta, a porn actor dubbed the "Canadian Psycho" for allegedly killing and chopping up his lover, posing in Berlin on June 3. German prosecutors say the Canadian accused of the grisly killing and dismemberment of a Chinese student in Montreal last month will likely be extradited by the end of June.-
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MONTREAL — The slaying and dismemberment of Chinese student Lin Jun — a crime police allege was committed by Luka Rocco Magnotta —Êhas worried parents from China calling an agency that helps newcomers in Montreal to ask if their children studying in the city are really safe.

The gruesome killing of Lin, a 33-year-old Chinese national, has been the top news story every day on China's state-run television service, said Xi Xi Le, executive director at the Chinese Family Service of Greater Montreal.

Magnotta, who was arrested in Berlin this past week after an international manhunt, is accused of killing and dismembering Lin in a Montreal apartment.

He's further accused of mailing some of Lin's body parts to political parties in Ottawa and to Vancouver schools, as well as of posting video of the crime on the Internet.

The widespread coverage has resulted in numerous phone calls in the past week.

"'How come things are so terrible in Montreal?' they want to know," Le said. "They say they've seen (the news reports) on TV and they're so scared."

With the number of Chinese families emigrating to Montreal rising dramatically — 3,000 individuals from China came to Montreal in 2010; 4,900 came in 2011, Le said — Lin's highly publicized demise has raised concerns it could affect immigration figures.

On Friday, a young Chinese family stopped to take pictures of a makeshift memorial to Lin of flowers, candles and cards at a street corner near Concordia University. The family has been in Montreal for three years and love it, they said. But their opinion of strangers here has darkened since Lin's death.

"When I heard what happened, I cried for him," said the young mother, who did not want to give her name out of fear for the future safety of their 20-month-old daughter.

"Now we feel like society is not safe. It makes you feel afraid. People can look like they're good, but in fact they're totally evil."

Her husband suggested that Canada's laws, which don't allow capital punishment, were too lenient and worried the murderer could get out after a few years in prison.

"Whoever did this should be executed," he said. "Don't let the f---ing guy pollute society."

Le of Chinese Family Services tells callers Lin's murder was a random attack, and rare in Montreal.

But the organization also counsels people they need to be careful when they meet strangers, or enter into a relationship.

Lin had been to their offices frequently, looking for advice on how to find work and buy a house, Le said. He had landed immigrant status in Canada and was planning to settle down in Montreal.

There are between 2,000 and 3,000 students from China studying in Montreal. Concordia has the largest number of Chinese students, with 853 registered for the 2011-12 school year. McGill University had 564 students from China in 2011-12, making it the third-largest source of international students there after the United States and France.

Concordia's International Student's office hasn't had any calls from students or parents, university spokesperson Chris Mota said Friday.

The university won't know if the number of Chinese nationals coming to the school has dropped until the next semester begins in September, she noted.

Even then, it will be impossible to know whether a decline was caused by negative publicity caused by Lin's murder, or the student strikes, or because the students were accepted elsewhere.

Concordia announced Friday it is establishing the Jun Lin Family Fund together with the university's Chinese students association to raise funds for Lin's family. It will also create the Jun Lin Award to benefit Chinese students at the university.

"This has been a very emotional and heartbreaking journey for the Lin family," the university said in a statement.

"It is our hope that they will be comforted by the knowledge that the Jun Lin Award will honour their son's memory, and support other Chinese students who wish to pursue their academic studies at our university."

Those who wish to donate can go to www.concordia.ca/alumni-giving/giving/areas-to-support/in-memory-of-jun-lin/

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